for people who care about the West

A journey through the "Era of Contraction"

I drove across the Northwest
this past weekend. A 1,700-mile trip from Idaho to Seattle, returning via rural
roads in Washington, and freeways in Idaho and Montana. Along the route I
looked at places and wondered, how will life change during the Era of
Contraction?

The Era of Contraction takes
form in a big way this week. Congress will either enact a Continuing Resolution
-- a back of the envelope budget for the fiscal year that starts Saturday -- or
the government will shut down. At the same time Congress’ Super Committee will
come up with its own plans to cut even deeper, trillions.

The most visible sign of a
federal West (the one that’s frustrating when you’re trying to get somewhere)
is that orange barrel on the Interstate highway. It seemed like every hundred
miles or so (probably twice that in Montana) a
new crop of orange popped up, speed limits went down, and crews were busy
improving a road or a bridge.

But this may have been the
last summer what such extensive road and bridge repair. (Unless President
Obama’s jobs’ bill passes Congress, but I don’t see the votes for that.) It
turns out that driving and road building is a good example of contraction.

Clark Williams-Derry from Seattle’s Sightline
Institute has been reporting for some time that people have already begun to
change their routines, spinning their wheels less. He blogs that
Oregon officials might scale back highway road work because gas taxes are
coming in slower than expected. Williams-Derry writes that “gasoline
consumption in Oregon and Washington has been pretty much flat since 1999,
while vehicle travel flat-lined in 2002. In short, people are driving less; and it’s not just the recession.
We warned that these trends could wreak havoc on highway financing. And
in only one week, we’ve had 2 confirmations of those warnings.” (A note of
disclosure: I am a volunteer member of Sightline’s board.)

Even when traveled less,
roads connect the West. We’re tied together as citizens of states, tribal
nations, as urban or a rural people. Roads deliver trade to ports and people
traveling to remote vacations.

Yet as I drove through
the mountains I wondered how small town life on that road will change when the
U.S. Forest Service shrinks. Throughout my drive I saw log-cabin type buildings
with a local headquarters. (Similar buildings are present for the National Park
Service and the Bureau of Land Management.) Now imagine ten percent of those
going away. Imagine the building mothballed because there are not enough
federal employees to staff it. I also passed several dams, one with a security
detail busy at work, watching me, watching them. What’s affordable: One less
security car, one fewer maintenance procedures, one-out-of-ten dam gone?

The House Appropriations’ continuing resolution
is essentially the budget that begins next week. At least in theory. But the
line by line cuts reflect what’s about to hit small towns. U.S. Fish and
Wildlife, a $168 million cut; state and tribal wildlife grants, minus $90
million; U.S. Forest Service, Capital Improvements & Maintenance, Legacy
Road & Trail Remediation loses $39.6 million. And on and on.

Life will change in many
bigger cities, too. Idaho Falls, Idaho, and the Tri-cities of Washington, are
federal nuclear enterprise zones. In the next couple of weeks hundreds of
employees (and contractors) will start to get notice that there services are no
longer required. The Tri-City Herald estimates more than 1,000 people will lose
their jobs out of Hanford’s workforce of about 12,000. My bet is Idaho Falls’
situation will be similar.

Even military bases and
contractors are getting ready for the what’s next. Politico reports that the automatic cuts
(if the Super Committee does not reach a deal) would be a $950 billion
reduction, meaning a reduction of about 150,000 Army soldiers and Marines. “No
mission goes unscathed,” Poltico quoted a staffer saying.

No mission goes unscathed is
not just military ones. It’s the forest service, it’s federal support for
schools, it’s everything, a restructuring of what we think a government should
provide in services.

I pull into my driveway. The
journey -- orange barrels and all -- was familiar. From my house I can see the
interstate and a few cars and trucks moving north and south. Still, even if the
road remains the same, the journey ahead is not.

Essays in the Range blog are not written by High Country News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

Mark Trahant is a writer, speaker and Twitter poet. He is a member
of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and lives in Fort Hall, Idaho. Trahant’s recent
book, “The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars,” is the story of
Sen. Henry Jackson and Forrest Gerard.